


Outrun

by slowmobanana



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Gen, Gore, Horror, One Shot, Spooky Halloween Drabble Special, outlast - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 07:44:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8393059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slowmobanana/pseuds/slowmobanana
Summary: Michael agrees to help Gavin expose whatever dark secret lurks in this place.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to do a Halloween drabble for fun. So, inspired by Outlast Week played by Michael and Gavin, here is this. I was originally going to make it a full series, but then I was like, "That's too much" so I decided to just make it a one shot. (Esp since I wanna take part in NaNoWriMo this year and I have a big plan for that.) I didn't do much editing so, ahhh, if it seems weird, I'm sorry. This one is honestly a bit of a mess. Anyways, enjoy the show!

 

The headlights didn't do shit in the black wilderness, just illuminating bright trees and creating dark shadows that stretched when he turned the car to follow the road. They were rocked side to side as the wheels hit the rocks buried into the set path of a thousand vehicles before them, branches scratching up against the door and the windshield fogging from the temperature change of a coming storm they had no idea about.

His eyes were beginning to ache from strain of driving, trying to see through the light into the darkness at what laid beyond where the headlights could reach. In between the trees, flashes of bright windows taunted him as they drew close yet never quite reaching. He thought they would need to drive forever just to reach the fucking gate.

On the corner of his eye, his friend was playing with a small, battery-operated camcorder that was built to handle extended uses. There were two extra cameras in the backseat in the event anything happened to the camcorder, but if everything went smoothly, there would be no use for them.

Ever since they had driven out of range of any radio towers in the area, they had been silent. The man with the camera was quietly adjusting the settings on the camcorder to fit the darkness of the night while the driver quietly cursed to himself about the ever elusive building that seemed to take forever to reach.

Out here, it felt terrifyingly isolated but at least they weren't alone.

Finally, he turned the car and the asylum came into view. It stood tall and dark with a few lights on in the windows, looming over the forest like a statued monster, poised to attack but never quite finding the perfect time to do so. It's spires stared down at the trees, searching for it's next victim but never quite moving as though it was confident it's prey would come to it instead.

Yet stone and still the building remained, because it was a _building_ , not a monster.

The car rolled to a stop beside the guard station, which was empty but a light was still on inside. The driver pulled the e-break and his friend didn't move. “Gavin, we're here.” The camcorder beeped a few times and then the young man looked up, smiling triumphantly as though the battle with the camcorder had been a painfully long-winded one.

The driver sighed and looked forward, prompting his friend to do the same. “Bullokin' hell,” Gavin whispered, pulling up his camcorder and hitting the record button. “This place is massive! Look at it.”

“Guess it's still up and running,” the driver mumbled quietly, though the darkness of his tone was betrayed by the fear expressed in his eyes.

Gavin laughed, a pigeon-like coo of awkwardly excited fear, unable to lose the unnerved smile on his face. “Then we aren't too late.”

“Not too late to turn around, or...” He let the other, unwanted option hang in the air.

His friend looked at him, smirk fading without disappearing. He pulled on the handle to open the door but didn't get out. After a brief moment, he turned to his friend. “Michael, you get out first.”

“What!?” The driver slammed a hand against the wheel. “This was your idea, not mine! You get out first!”

“But you're braver than I am.”

Michael inhaled through his nose, pursing his lips together. Shaking his head, he opened the door, slamming his hand on the wheel first before he got out.

The wind was strong and the air was cold. The trees around them swayed side to side as the bitter wind passed between the leaves on the branches Little droplets of drizzle landed on his face and he squinted to protect his eyes, putting a hand up against his forehead as he looked up at the castle. Outside the car, he was a lot more vulnerable and the spires above seemed to narrow their gaze down onto him.

Again, he shivered from fear and cold.

The car door shut again, quieter this time as Gavin joined him, pulling the edges of his windbreaker together in one hand with the camcorder in the other. “It's freezin' out here,” he complained, shifting the camera to record the asylum before him. He made sure to get a good shot of the massive castle before moving onward to get a better angle at everything else.

Michael sighed, shifting the leather jacket on his shoulders forward against his body, trying to gather what little warmth he could before making his way to the guard station to open the gate before them. He didn't make it far when the large gate behind them shut from the wind and the cameraman jumped and squealed in terror, whipping around to make sure his camera saw everything before he did.

There was a moment whence they exchanged uncertain looks before Michael rolled his eyes and continued into the guard station.

There was nobody but it was lit. The computer inside was still running but was absolutely useless. The monitor only displayed computer coding and his limited knowledge of programming wasn't going to help him navigate the screen. He huffed in annoyance and moved his way back to the jeep where is his friend was searching through the backseat for something unknown.

Finally, Gavin retreated from the back with a hip pouch, undoubtedly carrying batteries. A moment later, the cameraman shut the door and joined Michael at the doorway of the guard station. “Their computer is all fucky.”

Gavin paused, then he pointed to an iron bar door right next to the massive gate in the stone wall. They exchanged a small smile before moving forward. “Have you ever done this before, Michael?” the cameraman asked as Michael opened the iron bar door to let them in.

“What? A B'n'E?” he began. “Yeah.”

“No, like...” Gavin paused to lift the camera, slipping on night vision so he could see the dark corners of the shadowy building. “Exposing somethin' to the world. The email made this place sound mad.”

Michael huffed and started up towards the building, trying the main doors with a good tug, but it refused to open. Locked up tight. “It's locked,” he stated in a deep voice, trying to mimic the old video game protagonist from all-nighters back at home. “We'll need to find another way in.”

“Look!”

Michael rejoined Gavin and turned the way he was pointing; towards another side gate with a hole in the fence. “How convenient,” he chuckled and Gavin smiled in agreement.

He crouched under the fence and stood. They were in a large courtyard now, with a small fountain in the centre of the yard. Glancing up, he could see the many wooden planks and pillars that made their way up to an open second story window. He stole a step forward, then heard Gavin yelp, whipping around and catching the lad before he could fall too far nor drop the camera. He pulled Gavin to his feet as the cameraman tried to regain his balance, checking the camera first before checking himself. “Thanks, Michael, for helpin' me...” he paused for a moment, looking to the sky briefly in confusion. “...uncrouch?”

The driver paused for a second, then squinted an eye at him. “You mean stand up?”

Gavin laughed loudly at his stupidity. “Yeah! That.” They started across the courtyard, soft mud squelching gently under the soles of their shoes. A night lark chirped in the distance, breaking the sound of rustling leaves and gentle rain against glass and metal. Gavin mumbled, “Also unsit and unlay down,” but his voice was carried off by the wind.

They approached the scaffolding and Michael reached out to a metal pole, shaking it gently. The entire thing squeaked but didn't seem to move very much and the driver seemed more or less satisfied with the state of the structure. “Parkour,” he said quietly to himself and he jumped to reached the ledge. He pulled himself up onto the board, then turned and offered a hand to Gavin, who gave him the camera first before attempting anything that required physical exertion.

It took about five minutes for them to reach the top and only once did either of them almost fall off, but Michael had been there to grab Gavin's hand before he slid off the edge. Not that the fall was far but it would've been a pain to start all over again.

He put his hands on the window sill and leaned in. The room had a single, bare light bulb on the opposite wall. Between the light bulb and the window, furniture had been toppled sideways and thrown up against the wall, wildly tossed together in a state of panic or insanity. Michael frowned and hopped inside, falling into a crouch and then checking the corners to make sure no one was there. When he concluded the room was safe, he stood and helped Gavin in through the window.

The moment the cameraman's feet touched the ground, the light bulb popped and they were engulfed in darkness and their own yelps. Michael felt Gavin jump three feet off the ground and nearly into his arms. “Fuck, I can't see a thing!” he snapped.

“I got it,” Gavin whispered and he pulled up his camera, switching it onto night mode. Through the tiny screen, he could make out the shadows of the furniture and even the design of the wallpaper on the walls. “Damn good.”

“Lemme see,” Michael whispered, leaning down in between Gavin and the camera to see the tiny, light blue screen. “That is pretty good. Better than I thought.”

Gavin navigated them through the darkness. Michael clutched Gavin's jacket sleeve, so he wouldn't be lost, but he still kicked one of the chairs and he hissed in annoyance, mostly at Gavin for not telling him it was there.

Finally, they located the door and Gavin opened it, allowing light to shed onto the room from the hallway. Michael peeked out, looking either way down the halls to find they were blocked with more furniture and filing cabinets that stood as high as the hall. Perhaps they could've wasted time moving it around but the room in front of them was free and so they decided to keep moving forward.

They entered a room of a similar size to the previous one; this one was untouched, with bookcases still lined up along the walls and the chairs pointed towards the TV set that hung up above the fireplace on the far right of the room. “How many batteries did you bring?” Michael asked as they wandered in. His gaze came upon the door next to the TV on the far right and he began to move towards it.

“Two--” A loud screech reverberated through the room and both men jumped as a sudden but faint light filled the room along side the horrible scream. They scrambled about, trying to understand their situation, before their eyes landed on the television screen with white noise for sight and sound as the screeching faded away into nothingness. “Holy shit!”

“Fucking hell, oh, my God, I hate this place.” They remained for a moment. Michael put his hands on his knees and Gavin leaned back and they both tried to catch their breathes as not to pass out from a heart attack. Simultaneously, they looked at each other then broke into giggles at their stupidity of being scared so easily by a television set. “I can't believe that scared us. I almost shit myself.”

“I need to go to the bathroom now.”

The door opened up to a hall, which was blocked on one side and partially on the other. There was just barely enough room to squeeze in between the blockade, so Michael sucked in his stomach and moved carefully through the barrier, Gavin slowly trailing behind him.

The hallway ended in glass door with only one door to the left and the right. As they neared the end of the hall, the door to the left slammed shut and they both jumped again, though not as much this time. There was a horrified pause as they exchanged uneasy expressions. Hesitantly, Gavin shrugged. “Maybe it's the wind?”

Shaking his head, Michael turned and entered through the other door, a break room of a sort, and glanced around. Behind him, Gavin scanned the entire room with a camera. “There's literally no one here. What are we even looking for, Gavin?”

Quietly, the cameraman whispered, “That, I think.”

Michael turned and joined his friend by the back of the room, staring down at the broken table. Blood drip, drip, dripped from the ceiling, forming an uneven puddle on the wooden surface. They looked once to each other. Gavin swallowed hard and Michael sighed, turning his attention to the vent above. “Hey. Guess what we get to do.” With a hop, his fingers grasped the cold metal and he pulled himself up into the vent.

“Bloody heck.” Still, Gavin followed.

They crawled through the vent for a few moments. Michael kept his eyes on the light at the end of the vent, praying for safety and perhaps a bit of warmth on the other side. Behind him, he heard Gavin whimper and scramble quickly after the driver and he hurried himself because Gavin's noises had startled him.

They finally reached the end of the vent and Michael pulled himself out, dropping down loudly but safely onto the floor below. He stepped away from the wall just as Gavin, so much less gracefully, fell out of the vent and hard onto his back onto the concrete floor. He groaned loudly and Michael threw his head back to laugh at his stupid friend before helping him up off the floor. “Dude, feet first.”

“I slipped!” he began defensively as they began down the hall to the next door. Somewhere in the distance, chains jingled. “I've got a camera in my hand, and it makes it harder to do stuff. It's like my hand turned into a tree stump.”

“What?”

Michael turned the knob of the door and pushed it open, revealing an inky wall of blackness that felt deep and convoluted and he carefully leaned forward to see in the darkness. A strong, horrible stench blasted them in the face and Michael plugged his nose. Gavin lifted his camera, flipping on night mode and positioning it under Michael's arm as to see better, gagging and trying to dry heave over his shoulder without disrupting the camera's footage.

Something creaked and a body, ripped and torn and bloody, swung at them from the ceiling. Michael and Gavin screamed simultaneously, the latter losing his balance and landing on his arse while the former slammed his back against the glass wall, cracking it well with the force of his fall. There was a loud thud, singular and sharp, then they were left in the silence and the darkness again.

For a long moment, they waited, staring into the black wall. Michael gathered himself, wiping his mouth subconsciously, and swallowed thickly in the face of black fear. He suddenly reached down and snatched the camera from Gavin, lifting it up so he could see into the darkness with the infrared light. A body hung from ceiling, decapitated and mutilated, swaying side to side with the wind that slithered through the window and froze the room cold. Closer to the door, the body that had swung at them, now laying lifelessly on the ground, laying in a pool of it's own blood. Books were thrown about and scattered across the floors from the bookshelves, thrown about in an obvious previous struggle.

It took all the strength and willpower he could muster to dare enter the room, trying desperately not too breathe too much lest he lose the gas station lunch he'd eaten before he got there. He could hear Gavin groaning and gagging behind him as their shoes stuck to the drying blood like mud and sounding just the same. Once, he felt the bottom of his foot roll over an organ of any kind and he shut his eyes, trying not to picture it in his mind.

As they approached the back of the room, lightning flashed hard and bright and the body was perfectly visible for a moment and Michael winced. Gavin was definitely throwing up somewhere behind him and that wasn't making the situation any better. He moved the camera around to make sure all of it was documented. It seemed that Gavin's creepy lead was more legit than they had thought.

“Michael...” a meek voice croaked, a hand falling on his shoulder. He looked back at Gavin, who had his hands pressed against his knees and trying to hard to catch his breath without breathing. “Camera. Can't see.”

Willingly, Michael handed Gavin the camera, who glanced through the screen, recoiled, but didn't do much else. He did exactly as Michael had done before, rotate to make sure the camera saw all, so the driver continued on through the library. He turned the corner, trying to press on, but was halted by the gorey sight of a man skewer on a pike by the window. Michael flinched and averted his eyes, trying to find a door to focus on rather than the horrible sight that surrounded him.

The man on the skewer lurched out suddenly, grabbing Michael's arm and pulling him closer to meet his gaze. The driver screamed, scrambling to break out of the man's grasp but the grip held tight, trained and rough.

“They killed us,” he wheezed through dying gasps, pulling and pulling with all the strength he had. “They got out. The Variants.” Gavin appeared from nowhere, trying to get the guy to let go of Michael without avail. Michael grabbed the camera from the cameraman's hand and lifted it into the man's face as he spoke, the eyes glowing in the infrared. “You can't fight them. You have to hide. Can unlock the main doors from Security Control.”

The man gagged and struggled, finally letting Michael go and the two of them fell back against bookcases, stumbling completely to the ground. He turned and brought up the camera again, catching the remainder of the man's words; “You have to get the fuck out of this terrible place.” He reached forward again, as though he was making a final attempt to grasp onto life. His arm fell and his body went limp and silence was upon them again.

Slowly, they each stood. Gavin was still holding tight onto Michael's arm as they came down from the shock of horror that ran their blood cold and bones still. They looked to each other, trying to grasp for the right words, the right decision, something to keep them moving in any direction, if any direction was the safest.

Thud, thud, the clinking of chains from behind them loomed closer and closer to their position. Too much noise, a lot of screaming and laughing and breaking everything, and they had most likely attracted whatever this man was warning them about.

Slowly, the door creaked open and a large being took the place of where the door once was, silhouetted by the light in the front hall. It huffed, loudly, roughly, and finally saw the men cowering against the bookcase. Michael grabbed Gavin's sleeve and whispered, “Run.”

The men screamed and broke into a cold sprint through the library, ducking and dodging between the hanging corpses. The large being stomped after them, though not nearly as fast as the boys who were much smaller and agile.

They were temporarily blinded by the light but Gavin was quick enough to yank Michael in the direction of the vent. “Up, up, up, up, up!” he screamed repeatedly as Michael picked him up by the waist and practically threw the lithe man into the vent.

The berserker burst out of the library door at that moment and turned to Michael, snarling. The driver screamed and jumped up blindly for the vent, shocked when he felt Gavin's fingers around his wrist, pulling him up into the vent with all the force Michael didn't think he had. His hand slammed hard against the cold metal vent and he felt it in his wrist, pushing anyway. His legs kicked wildly in the hall as he scrambled to get himself further into vent.

A large hand grabbed his ankle and yanked with enough force to nearly rip his leg from it's socket. He screamed again, grabbing for anything that might stop him from being pulled out of the vent. All he found was Gavin's arms and he clung desperately onto dear life, briefly considering the phrase, 'If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me'. Then, by a stroke of pure luck, his second foot slammed into the monster's face and he felt the grip on his ankle disappear.

Yelping absolute nonsense at an absolutely stupidly high pitch, he pushed Gavin backwards down the vent and crawled in completely before the beast could grab at him again. The monster bellowed in anger and only the sound of jangling chains and repeated rough banging against the door told them he had moved on for another angle.

Gavin turned in the small space of the vent and scrambled for the opening at the end. He pulled himself out of the vent and nearly landed on his face trying to escape with all the panic of a confused deer. Michael was even less graceful and landed onto the wooden table, slipping on the blood and breaking the table even further with a large crack.

“I hear you, little pigs!” the berserker bellowed and the two men didn't bother to check for the other's safety, swinging open the door and bolting down the hall. Behind them, the berserker smashed a fist through the glass door, reaching around for the locked knob on the other side.

Michael pushed Gavin into the space between the wall and the blockade, shoving him faster than he could move and nearly knocking him right over when they cleared the space. Gavin stumbled, but Michael caught him and dragged him into the room on their right. Behind them, he could hear the rattling of chains and wood snapping as the berserker began to rip the blockade apart.

They ran across the hall into the original room they had entered. Gavin had the camera, the only means of seeing in the room. Michael tripped over several objects but spotted the cameraman's shadow in front of the window, gesturing wildly for the other to hurry.

The stomping was thunderous behind him as he hurried for the window.

Gavin jumped out too quickly, too late to realise it was pouring outside, and slipped on the wet wood. He grabbed the edge before he fell too far and Michael scrambled to get him back onto ledge again. He was so close to getting the cameraman back onto the scaffolding when the British man yelled, “Behind you!”

He didn't want to turn around and look behind him. He did not wanna fucking see that fat bastard behind him, but he turned anyway and met with the cold, white eyes of the very large beast of a man, grinning liplessly like a predator who found it's prey caught within a bear trap, struggling to be free but never quite making it. He stepped around the window and put one large and heavy foot on the wood, which creaked loudly under the weight. Michael hesitated then looked down at Gavin, who was wide-eyed, jaw agape in horror, too busy staring at the monstrosity above them.

They met gaze briefly and then the scaffolding buckled.

The wood snapped like a twig under the large man's weight and all three were thrown from the second floor all the way to the concrete bottom. Michael felt his heart lurch from his chest and he couldn't even find the strength to scream as he felt absolutely light for the moment before he slammed into the pavement.

Everything went white, then black, then red, then black again. The rain and the wind was cold and he shivered. Any energy that had one existed in his body vanished the moment his head made contact with the ground, forgetting for a moment just why he was laying on the concrete in the rain. Then he heard Gavin scream, and then chains jingle like tiny bells at Christmas, and his eyes snapped open. He was already being grabbed from the back and dragged along like a confused doll, choosing to trust the invisible force and run in that direction.

His eyes focused finally and he found himself sprinting next to Gavin – or perhaps not sprinting anymore. More stumbling as Gavin limped beside him, whimpering painfully as they crossed the small courtyard to the fence with the hole in the bottom.

Behind them, the ever-growing steps took two when Michael only managed one, and he dared look over his shoulder at the beast who hunted them now, grinning with bloodlust, reaching forward for them. Gavin pulled Michael to the ground and pushed him forward, and so he willingly rolled blindly. He gathered his senses quickly, reaching out a hand blindly in the event Gavin needed it to escape the bastard.

The large man reached through the hole, trying to clamber after Gavin as the cameraman barely cleared, escaping with a deep scratch along his leg from the man's nails. The two of them hesitated for a moment, staring at the man as he tried to pull himself through the hole without avail. Michael and Gavin didn't bother to wait to see if he could actually make it and sprinted across the large courtyard.

They opened the small gate beside and shut it behind him, in the event the large man could actually make it through the hole and tried to chase them again. Michael whipped open the Jeep door and fumbled with the keys, jamming them into the keyhole and turning over the engine. In the rear view mirror, Gavin was pushing open the gates that had been shut before by the angry wind. Michael looked up at the large gate in front and jumped when he saw the large man was staring at him through the metal bars, but making no effort to chase them.

The passenger door swung open beside him and Gavin jumped into the passenger seat, throwing his seat belt over his chest. “Go, go, go!” Michael hesitated, staring at the berserker who stared back through the gates. Then, like he had been snapped out of a spell, he threw the car into reverse and put his arm around the passenger seat so he could look behind him. He stomped down on the gas pedal and the Jeep lurched backwards, spinning around so they were adjacent to the gate. He put the car in drive and nearly spun out trying to escape the gates again before they closed.

Everything was shadowy and blinding and Michael couldn't see a damn thing through the bright raindrops as they passed in front of the headlights. He gripped the steering wheel tight with white knuckles, constantly looking back in the rear view mirror for anything willing to chase them into the woods, but nothing moved in the umbra that followed them between the trees.

Beside him, Gavin heaved for air and the driver thought for certain his friend would burst into tears or pass out but he never did. He just remained still, clutching the camcorder in his shaking hands, face pale and drops of rain running down his cheeks and his hair sticking to his forehead. His lips opened and closed as though he wanted to say something but couldn't find the words to. Some sounds, like squeaks and whimpers, made their way by but no complete words.

So, Michael shook his head and whispered, “I know.”

Far behind them, the castle fell into a stillness, the spires reaching out hopelessly after them. As the Jeep disappeared into the distance, it fell back into it's lonely, looming place, stone and still, spires searching the shadows for new prey between the trees.

But none ever came.

 


End file.
